I have a number of 'chronic' conditions and illnesses. I've had the same Family Doctor for the last twenty or so years, but since she and her partner had started this practice as a 'Walk-In Clinic', it became quite a busy office over time. While the doctors' regular patients were given top priority for appointments during the first few years, in the last 5 years, that has changed. Getting an appointment within a reasonable amount of time was absolutely impossible.
Often, I would call for an appointment because of a 'flare-up' of one of my conditions, only to be told that there were 'no appointment times available' to see my doctor for at least 2 to 3 months!! So, although I had my own Family Doctor, I could not access her very easily. In fact, the only way I could see her in a 'timely' fashion was to find out when she would be doing 'walk-ins', show up at those times and still sometimes needing to wait several hours to be seen. It was like I didn't have my own doctor, after all.
Two years ago, I had gone for my 'yearly check-up', and had a few questions about a few of my more serious conditions/illnesses. However, I noticed a new sign posted in the doctor's office. It read: "Policy change: Please, present only one problem per appointment." I was stunned by this and overwhelmed as to how I could handle my many problems if this new policy was implemented. Sure enough, the policy was implemented, and if I wanted to deal with my lung disease and my arthritis problems… and/or my fibromyalgia symptoms… and/or my clinical depression ... and/or my ever-increasing medicinal allergies and reactions… and/or my high triglycerides… and/or my Diverticulitis, etc. I would have to make separate appointments for each condition! This was totally unworkable for me, as just getting out to a Doctor's appointment requires considerable pain and effort on my part. It usually takes me a few days to 'recover' from the outing.
As a result, I have seen my doctor on very few occasions in the last few years, and my health has deteriorated. In May 2010, I ended up in the ER and discovered that I had been suffering with Pneumonia for a few months. In ER, I was advised to make an appointment with a Respirologist in the hospital's Respirology Clinic, which I did. I got an appointment for September 15th. That 'specialist' put me through a 'breathing test’, and gave me 2 prescriptions for new inhalers to better manage my COPD. These prescriptions did, indeed improve my breathing; however, over time, my tongue and other tissues inside of my mouth became irritated, raw and 'cracked' or 'fissured'. While I had been told to look out for "white patches" on my tongue, as that would indicate a yeast infection, I never had white patches. I did everything I had been told to do for this problem; but it never seemed to improve. I then began to have considerable pain, a sensation of 'heat' and 'itching' under my skin, right under my left shoulder blade. By the fifth day, I had a slight fever, and the pain had spread to the front of my chest, and it had become 'intolerable'. I thought that this felt a lot like 'pleurisy' which I'd had during my early teens. (I could not get hold of anyone at my doctor's office.)
Finally, on November 9th, 2010 I had to be transported to Emergency (Ambulance Dispatch sent me to a different hospital, one I did not want to go to. It was where my mother had died). I arrived at 9:15 am and by 9:30 am, I was taken to a curtained bed and hooked up to a heart monitor, and a ‘SAT' monitor. My blood was taken, I was put through an EKG and then I was sent for a chest x-ray. Two or three hours later, a doctor came to tell me that they didn't think I had 'pleurisy', as nothing was visible on the x-ray; so, I asked him what he thought this pain might be. He had no answer but told me that he would be sending me for a CAT scan. A few hours later, I was taken to the Imaging area to wait for the scan. An hour later, I underwent the scan, and was put back in the hall to await a porter to take me back to ER. That took another 40 minutes. By now, I was in agony and exhausted. I thought for sure, that I would be admitted to hospital.
At 7:00 p.m., there had been a shift change, and a new doctor came to give me the results of the CAT scan. He confirmed my suspicion that I had pleurisy in my left lung. I asked him if he thought that it could have been triggered by the inhalers - which had so harmed the tissues in my mouth - he literally gave me a look of 'condescension' and, with a smile, dismissed my assertion as 'absurd'. Then, he told me that the scan had also revealed a "node" in the lower lobe of my right lung but that it looked to be 'benign'. I was shocked. He told me that I should have my doctor "schedule another CAT scan 3 to 6 months down the road." Then, I was discharged at 7:30 pm, and given a prescription for an anti-biotic for seven days.
I had to find my own way home in the cold, after 10 hours, only to be diagnosed with what I already knew I had!
Since then, I saw my Family Doctor because seven days of this anti-biotic did nothing! The pain, swelling and itchy sensations had only continued to spread and increase in intensity. She gave me a prescription for another seven-day-course of the same anti-biotic. I told her that I sincerely believed that IF an inhaled medication could cause such damage to the tissues in my mouth, it made perfect sense to me that it could also damage similar tissues in, or around my lungs, and that I didn't have much faith that another seven days of anti-biotic would do the trick. Although she didn't think that the new inhalers could have caused the pleurisy, she did however prescribe an anti-fungal medication as well.
It took more than four days to have the anti-fungal prescription filled (due to the fact the prescription she gave me no longer had a 'generic' equivalent which would be approved by ODSP). My doctor finally had to fax a different anti-fungal prescription to my pharmacist. I did not begin to feel any better until I had been on the anti-fungal (Nystatin) for approximately five days! That was a great deal of pain/suffering to add to my already difficult situation.
Thank you so much for providing a place where I could share my story, as well as my anxieties and worries about the state of our health care system. I worry about a time where I might end up in ER in such a state that I'd be unable to advocate for myself! This possibility absolutely terrifies me.
Thanks for reading about my latest 'adventure' in dealing with our supposedly 'universal' health care system.